


Featherlight

by timepatches



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Multi, Tags to be added, high school!au, implied egoflapbang, orchestra fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-05-15 07:43:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5777275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timepatches/pseuds/timepatches
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"When people complimented the beauty of a musician, it was always about their grace and poise, how they made something infinitely complex look as effortless and serene as a swan ghosting across water. Danny’d heard it all before, even had people compliment him on his own playing, if rarely.<br/>But that was never how Arin played.<br/>Arin was the swan’s feet paddling madly underneath it all; he swayed and jittered with the music, foot tapping madly, bow clutched tightly in his fist, arm sawing against the strings with enough furious energy that it was almost violent. His eyes were narrow and bored into the sheet music with such a vivid intensity Danny couldn’t tear his eyes away, half imagining the paper bursting into flames."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Featherlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prélude a détaché: (french): a musical introduction; notes played separately and discretely.

When people complimented the beauty of a musician, it was always about their grace and poise, how they made something infinitely complex look as effortless and serene as a swan ghosting across water. Danny’d heard it all before, even had people compliment him on his own playing, if rarely.

But that was never how Arin played.

Arin was the swan’s feet paddling madly underneath it all; he swayed and jittered with the music, foot tapping madly, bow clutched tightly in his fist, arm sawing against the strings with enough furious energy that it was almost violent. His eyes were narrow and bored into the sheet music with such a vivid intensity Danny couldn’t tear his eyes away, half imagining the paper bursting into flames.

Watching him made Danny feel he’d never worked so hard at anything in his life as Arin worked at music, and it took his breath away completely. Danny counted the flute section’s one-forty-eight bar rest without thinking, silver instrument loose in his hands because his entire being was lost watching the violinist - Arin, who could be lazy and boorish and crass, poured every drop of his soul into the melody and Danny’s heart thudded madly in his chest along with him.

Every time, time would pass without him noticing and Danny’d forget how fleeting those moments were, bringing his flute back to his lips in a daze because his whole body was still alight and trembling. Because when the conductor signalled their final flourish, Arin wiped the sweat from his brow and grinned, immediately slouching back in his chair and yawning. As soon as the music faded he was just a boy again. Just a boy who was quickly becoming everything to Danny even when they’d barely said a word to each other.

How on earth someone so full of life and energy had ended up in the orchestra, Danny had no idea, but as across the auditorium Arin elbowed the sandy-haired oboe player next to him and poked his tongue out at the clarinettist opposite, the quiet flautist suddenly wanted to know everything.

The rap of the conductor’s baton on their music stand was a jolt to Danny’s system, and he unwound the tight grip his skinny fingers had formed around his flute, willing himself to focus and calm down (or at least _try_ ) as there was a mass shuffling of papers. The conductor coughed politely, smiling, and the room fell silent.

‘We’ll be starting our new suite for the term today, you’ll find the sheet music already in your folders - some of you will know it, I hope, and if not, hopefuly you’ll enjoy it anyway. Starting with Gusty Garden Galaxy from the Super Mario Galaxy suite, page one, a prima vista.’

Danny blinked with fascination at the title and transcription notes on the sheet music in front of him - a set of six songs from Mario Galaxy? He’d never even played the game, much less heard the music, but if it was anything like the music from the Mario games he _had_ played (which were certainly of an older vintage), then he couldn’t exactly imagine chiptune melodies adapted for orchestra.

‘Tutti, from measure A.’

With a gravelly start from the trombones, Danny watched as his friend Brian scowled at the sheet music with a tight grip on his trumpet but still managed to make the ringing notes of the brass prelude blisteringly clear. The woodwinds came in with a quiet, underlying trill, then the strings took over with a fluid melody and Danny’s heart lurched into his throat because _god_ was it beautiful and suddenly it was music instead of just dots on a page. He couldn’t watch Arin, not now that his eyes were so glued to the new sheets in front of him, but he listened for the string section almost reflexively and although they stumbled a little on the grace notes, but the melody was sound. Danny struggled to get a lungful of air with the beauty of it all as he lifted his flute to join the melody with the trumpets.

With a rather disturbing sound from the percussion and lower brass (not unlike a pair of sneakers in a dryer) and an odd look from the conductor as he raised his baton, the orchestra ground to a halt - they could only sightread so far apparently - and Danny scribbled a note to himself on the key change in case he forgot it next time.

The conductor did the rounds of the orchestra, pointing out the trombones’ messy intonation and a lack of volume from the strings. There was a grudging smile as the conductor straightened his music.

‘Altogether, not bad for a first sightread. Holly?’

The pink-haired percussionist looked up from the glockenspiel, dimpling.

‘Yes, sir?’

‘I seem to recall you play ukelele - could we have you play it during this piece?’

The girl’s head cocked to the side, birdlike, but she nodded.

‘I can try!’

‘Come see me after rehearsal, I’ll give you the sheet music.’

The percussionist nodded, and with that, the conductor turned back to his sheet music.

‘From measure A, just the brass.’

^^^

Arin stomped through the door, flinging his backpack and his violin case into a corner without looking and collapsing on the bed with a huff. Suzy followed him in, eyes rolling, going back to prop up his violin in its proper place before she turned to Arin with an eyebrow raised.

‘You know I’m right.’

‘Suzy, don’t give me that shit.’

‘You’re being stupid, Arin.’

Arin groaned wordlessly into the pillow. He could feel Suzy pinning him with that level-headed, no-nonsense stare through the back of his head without even having to see it. She was _far_ too good at that look in his opinion.

‘You’re being _stupid_ . He was totally staring at you again today. I wouldn’t have even noticed if I didn’t think he was staring at _me_ at first.’

‘He could have been doing that for any reason, Suze.’

Suzy plopped down beside him on the bed, poking at his unresponsive back with a finger.

‘C’mon, now, you’re being silly. It’d be good for both of you to talk, and we don’t know anyone in the flute section. Let alone anyone who’s actually good at their instrument.’

Arin rolled over enough to raise an eyebrow.

‘Besides you, I mean, but c’mon? Have you _heard_ Ross try and play a high C? He sounds like a goose halfway through being hit by a truck.’

Goddamnit, but it was hard not to crack a smile at that (both because Ross was a huge dick and because it was absolutely true. Ross and his oboe were an… interesting combination for the eardrums).

‘Why don’t you ask Danny if he wants to practice together? You’ve been having trouble with those grace notes and the scales and stuff, maybe he knows a trick that could help you out.’

‘We don’t even play the same instrument, dude.’

‘Trust me, Arin,’ Suzy said, her eyes gleaming because she knew she’d already won. ‘You won’t regret this.’

Arin mashed his hands into his face, groaning.

‘ _Fine._ Only if it’ll get you off my back.’

‘Yesss!’

^^^ 

The new school day ground by (literally without anything interesting happening as far as Arin was concerned), afternoon sunlight streaming in through the window as Arin rolled his bow between his fingers and yawned, kicking back in his chair and tapping the music stand in front of him with his foot. The classroom felt stuffy as fuck considering Arin was already loopy after ending the day with double english - and it wasn’t exactly like today’s sectionals were off to a productive start anyway. The string section were spread lazily around the room, some of them holding their instruments in various stages of construction but most of them still in their cases. Arin could hear the flute section goofing off down the hall, and something that was definitely not music (but definitely involved a trumpet) from the other direction.

Quietly, enough so that it didn’t break through the hubbub of conversation and draw attention to him, Arin lifted his violin to his chin and raised his bow, running through the first glissando section of Gusty Garden before breaking off with an exasperated sigh.

_Fuck those runs. Fuck ‘em right up the ass._

Arin had never really had much time for practicing scales - he’d never had the patience for one thing, and he’d always thought they were boring and lame when he could be playing something actually fuckin’ interesting - but it was coming back to bite him now, and Arin fought the urge to kick the music stand over entirely with a scowl. He’d never make the leap to a proper first-chair violinist like this. Not with that senior guy Jon smashing it in principal violin like always, and Arin what he always was. Never good enough.

Suzy, who’d been saying hi to their friend Holly on the balcony at their percussion sectional, slipped through the door at the front of the room, and Arin pointedly ignored her until she was standing right in front of him.

‘Arin?’ she said, draping her arms over his music stand.

‘Yeah?’ Arin’s tone was hardly exuberant but… Suzy was his best friend, always had been, he couldn’t stay mad at her for long. And she knew him better than he did - Suzy was already smiling, knowing that the worst of Arin’s tantrum was over.

‘I know you’ve been having trouble with that gliss since we started Gusty Garden yesterday, why don’t you come over after practice and we can figure it out together?’

Arin toyed with the bow in his lap.

‘..Nah, I can’t, Suze.’

Arin expected her to be disappointed, and maybe she was a little as she thumped down into the chair next to him and yanked her cello case open, but there was a little gleam in her eyes as if she knew what Arin would be doing instead.

‘Why not?’ There was a little teasing lilt to her voice, and Arin gave up, letting a grudging grin return to his face as he gestured wildly.

‘I mean, someone’s gotta be friends with that Danny kid, right? Might as well be me.’

Suzy might as well have fist pumped the air she looked so elated.

_Why the hell is she so happy? And why doesn’t she just hang out with him herself, if she likes him so much?_

‘What, you got a crush on him or something? You seem really obsessed with this guy.’

She rolled her eyes, tugging back a lock of her fringe.

‘Don’t be stupid, Arin.’

‘So _I’m_ the stupid one here?’

‘Absolutely.’

^^^

Arin without his violin under his chin and with his eyes open and animated was a strangely normal creature, it occurred to Danny again as he tapped his chin with the bottom of his phone thoughtfully, watching him without even realising he was doing it from his usual spot near the gate outside school. It’s not like they’ve never spoken before, they’ve had classes together even, but Danny has admired him as a violinist, and from afar, for too long, and he’s almost _too_ normal, just a boy on the cusp of something greater, as Danny watches him laugh and joke around his friends, poking his tongue out at Suzy. Gorgeous Suzy (who everyone’s had a crush on at some point, even Danny) who tucks her blonde streak behind her ear and smacks Arin jokingly on the shoulder.

He doesn’t even know why he’s so captivated - not even that he can’t admit it to himself, but he doesn’t have the foggiest idea why Arin is so interesting. By first impressions the boy is immature, maybe, and definitely loud, and that’s the impression he’d always had. But knowing his music and watching him play so intimately drove Danny to watch him more minutely, and maybe there was more to Arin than met the eye. Maybe he wasn’t this loud all the time. Every moment planted another niggling wish to know him better.

As was probably pretty evident by the fact that he was waiting outside for his mom all by himself, Danny didn’t exactly have the biggest friend group in school, and those he did know were mostly football kids and older cousins. Ironically, the people he knew best in the orchestra were the people who were friends with Arin first - there was Ross and Barry, who played oboe and clarinet, and Suzy the cellist, as well as Kevin the junior who played a bassoon almost as big as he was, and Holly on melodic percussion. There was Brian as well, he guessed - but Brian was a senior, and even though they’d grown up on the same street and used to walk home from school together, it didn’t happen so much anymore now that Brian was a senior. Secretly it hurt a little bit, but Danny couldn’t blame him, not really. And Ross and Barry… he didn’t know them too well either to be honest, and Dan wasn’t too great at talking to people he didn’t know. And anyway, lately Danny found himself giving them a wider berth than usual. They were too close to Arin for comfort, and he couldn’t quite bring himself to confront Arin as a real-life human being in close quarters just yet.

But Dan didn’t mind, not really. He was happy to go home and practice by himself.

Before Danny can catch his breath, the dark-haired girl hefts her cello case and waves goodbye, and the rest of Arin’s friends disperse. Before he can even pretend he wasn’t watching, Arin is walking over, the normal cocky comfort of his stride a little shorter, and Danny scuffs his foot against the floor and redoubles his grip on his flute before he drops it and looks like an idiot.

‘Hey man,’ says Arin, and Danny smiles timidly, eyes boring into the tips of Arin’s scuffed sneakers. Danny wonders just how long he can avoid looking Arin in the eye before it starts being rude.

‘I, uh, I’m Arin.’

‘I know.’

_Great. Great start. Amazing. Well done Danny. Conversationalism grade: A+._

But Arin, when Danny gets enough courage to dart his eyes upwards for a millisecond or two, seems unpreturbed. His stance is relaxed and casual, and for a fleeting moment Danny is envious of how easy this apparently is for him.

‘You know Barry and Ross, right?’

‘Yeah, they played football with me once for like, five minutes.’

‘You mean for the five minutes it took them to realise that oh fuck, football is a _sport?_ ’

Danny laughed despite himself, feeling the unbelieveable tenseness in his gut loosen a little. Arin was… not actually that hard to talk to apparently?

‘Exactly, man. Wow. Not that I’m great by any means, but I’ve never seen someone fail at throwing a ball quite so spectacularly.’

‘Dude I’m not surprised. So uh… what do you think of the suite we started today?’

‘So far I like it! That violin melody you play is really beautiful.’ Worried he might have let on just how much he’d been staring at the violin section, Danny’s face flushes, and he scrambles for something else to say. ‘I don’t know how we’re going to compete in Regionals, though. It’s hardly traditional.’

Arin’s face twisted into a grimace.

‘Yeah. And I already know St. Valen’s set list, they’re gonna be really tough competition this year.’

Danny huffed in sympathy even as he settled into the familiar topic and was able to breathe a little easier. Everyone who’d even heard of the Ibsen Heights school orchestra knew about their rivalry with St. Valen’s - they creamed the competition every year, more out of habit than anything else, and the Ibsen orchestra was getting pretty damn tired of coming second.

‘It’s beautiful music, though. I’m glad we get the chance to play it, it’s all new to me.’

‘What do you mean, dude?’

‘I never played Mario Galaxy before, man.’

Arin’s eyes grow brighter even as they widen in surprise.

‘Do you want to?’

Danny flounders.

‘I mean… yeah? I guess so?’

‘What are you doing this afternoon?’ Arin blurts out, bouncing on his toes.

‘..As in right now this afternoon?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Nothing, I guess, just catching the bus home.’

‘Why don’t you come over? I’ve got the game, you should totally play it, especially now we’re doing the music for Regionals.’

‘I… really?’

‘My mom can give you a lift to my place. C’mon, man, we can even practice together if you want.’

As much as his gut seethed with _oh god you can’t do this_ at the thought of it, seeing Arin play the violin up close was the final straw and Danny fished out his phone, grinning widely.

‘Y’know what, dude, I’m in.’

^^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh this is finally done!  
> Updates will be as frequent as I can manage (which is not very) but I hope some of y'all will stay tuned for musical egobang fluff and funtimes. Ilu! <3


End file.
